The owner of Store Fixtures R Us, which supplies fixtures, displays, and other related items to retail stores,  says he plans to close the 25-year-old East Spokane store by the end of this month, after already having shuttered sister plastic-fabrication company Custom Productions.

Randy Heritage, founder and owner of Store Fixtures says, “It’s kind of sad really because Spokane still needs a place like this.” 

Custom Productions, which fabricated smaller plastic items and inventions, closed in September after 32 years in business.  

 “Following the closure of Display House last year, Store Fixtures R Us is the last store fixture supply company in Spokane,” he says. 

Heritage says, however, that as word has gotten out about the business’  looming closure, there have been two prospective buyers have shown interest in possibly acquiring it, although he wouldn’t disclose their names. 

“I can say that one is a coastal competitor and the other is a local company,” says Heritage. 

However, so far nothing has been finalized, and Heritage says Store Fixtures R Us could still close.

 “We still have about $500,000 worth of product to sell, the majority being store fixtures,” he says.

Having operated the businesses for so many years, Heritage says he’s decided it is time to move on. 

“I’ve been in this awhile so I’m getting kind of tired. I also have some financial obligations to take care of, so it just makes sense to sell the businesses,” he says.

If he’s not able to sell the operation, Heritage says the remaining inventory will be disposed of. 

Located in 30,000 square feet of space at 2202 E. Broadway, the two businesses have focused on creating the retail fixtures and displays needed to run a business. Some of those items include display cases, slot wall (also known as slat wall) and grid wall panels, plastic displays, clothing racks, mannequins, shelving, hangers, tags, and labels. The two businesses also shared employees, three of whom remain following the closure of Custom Productions. These employees will continue to work with Store Fixtures R Us until it too closes. 

Besides Display House, Heritage doesn’t recall Store Fixtures having many competitors in town.

With no other store fixture businesses in the area, Heritage says customers will have to buy those kinds of supplies from larger companies in bigger cities. 

“I suppose some people find it convenient to just order in supplies through a catalog or online,” says Heritage. “But I think stores like these are closing because local small businesses have been struggling since the recession. They just don’t have extra money to spend on things like new fixtures.”

Heritage got his start in plastics working as a distributer for a company here called Universal Plastics. “They didn’t do any fabrication,” says Heritage. “I wanted to experiment with building things in plastic, so I started my own business doing that.” 

Heritage says he eventually got so many requests for items relating to retail fixtures and displays that he began offering those to customers as well. “That’s how Store Fixtures R Us began in 1990,” he says. 

Over the years, he says, the two companies have sold products to more than 10,000 businesses mostly in the Northwest, and at their peak in 2006, they had 10 employees and combined annual sales of $850,000. 

Heritage says Custom Productions created everything from golf tees to CD holders, along with bearing blocks for the Loof carousel downtown. The business also worked on projects with the city of Spokane and large companies such as Jubilant HollisterStier LLC.

Store Fixtures R Us has worked on projects with both companies and smaller retail stores, listed among them are Macy’s Inc., Goodwill Industries International Inc., and Cenex Zip Trip convenience stores.